To protect newspapers or magazines from damages when shipping from the printing plant to the magazine trade, when delivering from house to house by means of a newspaper messenger or when forwarding, it is necessary to package said newspapers or magazines.
Usually the stacked newspapers or magazines are enveloped in a plastic film. At the same time the envelopment is done by means of a special packaging machine, which wraps the plastic film around a stack of newspapers or magazines and closes the wrapper, formed in this manner, by welding. In addition, a packaging band is cemented around the packaging element or a band is wound around said packaging element. For this method of packaging large amounts of film and other packing materials are consumed.
The filled packaging element is provided with a labelled stick-on with the address of the newspaper dealer or the newspaper messenger and delivered. As soon as the filled packaging element arrives at its place of destination, it is opened by tearing or severing the band material and the plastic wrapper in order to remove the newspapers or magazines. Finally the newspapers are removed and the packaging material is thrown away.
Disposal of the packaging materials becomes increasingly more difficult. To date reuse of the packaging material was possible only to a limited degree. A foreseeable change in the legal rules concerning the disposal of waste will demand of the producer that he take back and reuse the packaging material. This seems logical both with respect to the existing problems with waste disposal and in light of the ever decreasing amount of raw materials and the high consumption of energy in the manufacture of packaging material.
An unfoldable container for receiving objects, in particular a school bag for carrying books, which is made of a light-weight, flexible, relatively tough and relatively solid material, is known from the DE-OS 21 20 668. This container exhibits a central field and two pairs of opposing flaps, made of one piece with the central field. The inner surfaces of one flap and the outer surfaces of the respective opposing flap are provided with interacting connecting means, which mesh together so as to be detachable, in order to hold together the flaps, when, upon tucking in the one flap is laid on the opposing other flap.
Furthermore, a foldable cardboard shipping container for objects, in particular cans of beverage, is known from the FR-OS 25 97 835, where a belt is wound around the objects to be shipped. This belt absorbs the weight of the objects during shipment, so that the load is taken off of the shipping container. The belt is run through slots in the shipping container to the outside and serves as a handle element. While carrying by means of the handle element, not the packaging but rather the objects are braced, whereas the packaging in turn rests on the objects.
The invention is based on the problem of providing a reusable packaging element, which makes it possible to localize tightly and rigidly a stack of printed products not only by hand but also by machine and also facilitates the manipulation and shipment of the stack of printed products.
This problem with a packaging element described above is solved by means of the features cited in the characterizing part.
The special blank of the packaging element, the connection of the individual sections of the blank for its construction with predominantly detachable fastening means and the choice of packaging material enable a reuseability and a mechanical and manual localization of the printed products and guarantees their optimal protection against damages especially during shipment, as explained in detail in the following.
The packaging element according to the invention is made of a tear-resistant woven fabric or film material. This material prevents the packaging element from being destroyed during mechanical or manual assembly or disassembly and during shipment due to resulting shock and frictional forces. Furthermore, this material provides for high flexibility of the packaging element. The flexibility reduces the wear of the packaging element during frequent use and is, moreover, important for a simple mechanical or even manual wrapping of the newspapers. In particular, the packaging element can be folded together and even compressed without damage owing to the flexibility of the material. This state allows the packaging element to be collected compactly and returned without any problems to the printing plant.
The flexibility of the packaging element has also the advantage that during both a mechanical and manual packaging procedure no problems are created if the height of the stack of the wrapped product is, for example, slightly exceeded. In so doing, there is no need to detect the height of the packet. The packaging element reacts by means of its closing method independently of the control to a wide range of stack heights of the printed products to be packaged. During the manufacturing process the packaging element can be modified specifically to the user in any arbitrary format in consideration of the possible minima and maxima according to the values gained from experience in packaging technology.
The blank of the packaging element exhibits an approximately rectangular receiving area for the stack of printed products, at whose four side corners a localizing area is pivot-mounted for localizing the stack of printed products. Owing to this blank the packaging element can be assembled in a simple manner by swinging the localizing areas and then closed after filling with printed products.
The newspaper buyer, who receives a stack of newspapers packaged in this manner, can loosen with effortless ease the packaging element, deposited on the underside of the receiving area, and can swing out the localizing areas, connected according to the invention to predominantly detachable fastening means, until he can remove the printed products from the packaging element. Owing to the affixing of detachable fastening means, the packaging elements cannot be damaged upon opening and removal of the printed products.
The localizing areas are divided into side faces and top faces, where the top faces in the closed state of the packaging element overlap at least in part. Attached to the top face of the localizing area, which is folded up last when closing, is another side face, which in the filled state of the packaging element, can always be fastened by means of detachable fastening means to the side face of the opposing localizing area. The inside of the two localizing areas, to be folded up last, and the receiving area carry a continuous reinforcing band, which is arranged in the middle and which is cemented on and/or woven in. Expediently the reinforcing band in the region of the outer localizing area is woven in such a manner into the side face and top face that it forms handle elements on the outside of the top face of the localizing area that is folded up last.
When carrying the filled packaging element at these handle elements, the side face, bordering the related top face, and the other side face are stressed only in the longitudinal direction of their face, so that their fastening means cannot detach themselves and consequently cannot lift up the top strap provided with the handle elements.
In addition, the reinforcing band can also move to the outside at the side face of the localizing area that is to be folded up last and form a handle element.
The handle elements serve the purpose of handling without damage when removing the package from the conveyor belt and during subsequent shipping. Thus, the packaging element can be readily carried and manipulated at the handle elements, whereby the continuous reinforcing band that is arranged in the middle supports the packaging element at the faces which are at the bottom and the side in the carried position.
The penetration points of the reinforcing band can be reinforced at the side face and/or the top face.
Preferably round bars, which are arranged at the penetration points of the reinforcing band, are arranged parallel to the penetration points and reach under the top face and over the reinforcing band, serve as reinforcement.
Therefore, the penetration points do not tear out even with prolonged rough use; and the round bars parallel to the penetration points serve as a tensile load abutment and distribute the load over a larger area of the localizing areas.
Several modifications are conceivable for the design of the localizing areas. Thus, the localizing areas can exhibit a rectangular, trapezoidal, triangular surface shape or a combination of these surface shapes. Furthermore, the localizing areas can be designed and arranged symmetrically or asymmetrically relative to the lateral bisecting line of the receiving area. In addition, the localizing areas can present identical or dissimilar surface shapes.
The choice of shapes is made from such points of view as protection of the printed products from mechanical damage or from weather and empty weight and cost of material of the packaging element. Thus, a design with rectangular localizing areas, which totally envelop the stack of newspapers and thus offer protection against weather, is preferred for newspapers that are delivered by the deliverer directly to the subscriber. In contrast, a design, in which the localizing areas can be designed as narrow belts, is adequate for returning newspapers and magazines to the publishers, where the baled news are fed into waste paper processing plants.
Suitable materials for the packaging element are film and woven fabric, natural fiber fabrics such as cotton fabric, mixed cotton fabric, jute fabric, synthetic fiber fabric or a combination of these materials serving as the fabric material. The fabric material can be treated so as to be water-repellant; it can be impregnated or coated.
The use of fabric has withstood the test in numerous tests on account of its high wear resistance, resistance to tearing and tear propagation, long lifespan and flexibility.
Furthermore, the localizing areas can be made of an expandable material, preferably a netted fabric or latticed fabric.
This design is especially expedient, if packaging elements of uniform size are to be used for packaging stacks exhibiting a stack height that varies significantly. As the intrinsic stability of a stack decreases with increasing stack height, the localizing forces of the packaging element increases with increasing expansion, so that a good stability of the filled and sealed packaging element is always obtained.
A practical design of the invention provides that the packaging element is assembled from two webs of fabric that cross over each other.
In its simplest form the packaging element can be fabricated from commercially available webs of fabric, working from rolls, without requiring a special blank. At the same time the double layer of the webs of fabric in the region of the receiving area results in a desired increased rigidity and stability.
Preferably Velcro.RTM. hook and loop fasteners serve as the detachable fastening means. Two Velcro strips are arranged along the lateral edges of the top faces, whereby the top faces to be attached one on top of the other carry the meshing Velcro strips alternatingly on their top side and on their bottom side.
The Velcro strips enable that the localizing areas or the top faces can be folded by machine or by hand and connected, and that the packaging element can be closed in one working step.
The opposing arrangement of two Velcro strips or fleece strips is designed in an advantageous manner in such a manner that, when containers are stacked into empty packaging elements, no Velcro strip makes contact with the fleece strip of a packaging element situated above or below. The empty packaging element can be removed, for example, to the filling station or the conveyor belt without any problems.
Furthermore, this design makes it possible to optimally fasten together the top faces without rendering the opening of the packaging element difficult.
According to another design, another Velcro strip is arranged on the top side of the top face of the localizing area to be folded up secondly near the lateral edge exhibiting the fixing area to be folded up last and the bottom side of the top face, which is to be fastened next and belongs to the localizing area to be folded up third.
This design enables that a localizing area or a subsection of the localizing area can be pivoted as a sachel flap not only for removal of but also for filling with newspapers or magazines, without significantly impairing the stability.
Thus, the packaging element can be used optionally as a newspaper bag for delivering newspapers by the newspaper deliverer or as an opened bag in the bicycle carrier or in the passenger car.
Another design of the invention provides that counterweights, preferably rounded off flat bars, are incorporated at least on the outermost lateral edge of the top face.
First, this design weighs down the top faces at their side ends and, thus, causes secondly a linear guide of the packaging element sides during the mechanical or manual assembly of the packaging element by means of a packaging machine or by hand. The counterweights, which are made, for example, of spring steel or aluminum, can be inserted into the hollow seam prepared for them.
It is expedient if the receiving area is made of light-weight metal, plastic, hard rubber, wood or cardboard or reinforced by means of a plate made of these materials.
Thus, the receiving area of the packaging element is reinforced in a simple manner. Even valuable magazines can be shipped protected from bending in the packaging element according to the invention. The increased stability is important especially when the packaging element is used as a bag.
One modified design provides that feet are attached to the rear side of the receiving area. They can be placed in such a manner that they rest against the counterweights when the filled packaging elements are stacked.
Thus, the packaging elements can be deposited on the receiving area without getting them dirty. Furthermore, at this stage it is possible to stack the packaged newspapers without the risk of the individually filled packaging elements shifting with respect to one another.